It's a Tradition!
by ScouterFight
Summary: Mal and Ben celebrate the New Year with something very special. Get your head out of the gutter and read the Rating. To all of those reading the summary: Happy New Year's Eve to all of you.


Descendants is a Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on July 31, 2015. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Disney Channel.  
I don't own Descendants. It is not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

Ben walked through the corridors of Auradon Prep in search of his girlfriend and her friends, well they were his friends now too he supposed. He had searched everywhere for Mal and the others and had yet to find even a hint to where they could have disappeared to.

A few months ago, he would have been worried when nobody had seen them because even if it had been his idea to bring the children of the Isle of the Lost to Auradon, he still had been worried that the entire thing could go wrong. But after the coronation, even these last few lingers of doubt had vanished. Much like his girlfriend now.

He had not seen her that day, the entire morning he had been stuck in meetings just because the students had holidays did not mean that the King had too. He came to a stop in front one of the windows and looked outside onto the snow-covered grounds. He still remembered the VK's reaction to their first real snow. ItT had been a joyous day for all involved, they had spent the entire day outside and Ben for once did not think about the mountain of paperwork on his desk, in his room. Normally that only happened when he spent alone time with Mal on a date, well who was he kidding, it disappeared nearly every time he was near his Fae-girlfriend, she did seem to have that effect on him, often times without realizing she did.

Mal and the others had come a long way from being those hardened Island kids that first got out of that car. But sometimes they still had problems understanding things that were simply natural for those who had grown up on the mainland. Through he loved the joy on their faces upon learning something new and discovering the joy behind so many things, that they had been denied nearly their entire lives, he also hated those moments with a fiery passion simply because they were now only discovering those things and to think that his parents were responsible for the life they lost and only now started to regain, well he sometimes felt as if he was trying to make up for the mistakes his parents and the other 'heroes' did in the past instead of the other way around as so many felt was justified thinking.

With a sigh he started searching again, he had checked the boy's room, the girl's room, the library, the kitchens, the laps, the common rooms, nearly every hallway, the gardens, the basement he even searched on the roof for his four wayward friends.

He turned the corner and walked right into Doug both of them tumbling to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs, falling books, and flying papers.

"Sorry, man." Ben apologized as he helped Doug pick up his stuff from the ground.

"Don't worry about it, I was not really paying attention."

"Well have you seen Mal and the others? I have been searching everywhere."

"Yes, I have, they at the edge of the forest last, I have seen them they were climbing trees, I think. It was all a bit strange Jay and Carlos were arguing about something or the other and suddenly both start climbing the trees, while Mal and Evie only looked on in amusement. Evie told me I should go because this could go on forever, she would see me later because we wanted to study together and then maybe watch a movie and eat something and…."

"Okay, I understand, sorry to interrupt you but you were rambling. And I really need to find Mal."

"Why what's so important?"

"I want to ask her out for the new-years-party."

"You haven't yet? Well then hurry up, I asked Evie out three weeks ago."

"Yeah, I know that I'm late, but I barely have seen her these last few weeks I have been so busy with king-stuff in preparation for the next year."

"Well, then good luck King Ben."

"Thank you, man, see you later." Ben laughed before he started running into the direction of the forest he had a question to ask.

"See you later." He barely heard Doug's goodbye in his haste.

Doug had been right, he nearly always was but that was not important at the moment, he found all four of them near the edge of the forest a little farther into the actual forest than the school.

All four of them sat roughly four meters above the ground in the trees on thick branches. He was always astonished by how athletic all four of them were, not that he was not fit but they were on an entirely different level.

Mal explained once to him that they were often free running at night over the entire island from north to south, from east to west and so on. They spent most of the day sleeping and were awake at night because then they were truly left alone, while most were sleeping or at least trying to, the four VK's were either free running, stealing, spreading chaos or just simply hanging out.

It had been hard on them from being night owls and rarely being awake when the sun was up to being awake the entire day and doing school work instead of running errands, training, doing chores or other things. On the Island they never really sat still or were inside for longer periods of time and now they spent nearly their entire days inside doing just that, sitting still. Ben noticed that they seemed to have a high amount of energy even for teenagers.

So, it happened that he found them once in a while doing something which required a lot of energy outside when nobody would miss them and even when they had classes they sometimes simply disappeared to let loose and simply run or to lose some of the amounts of energy they had stored inside their young bodies.

"Hey, guys." Ben greeted them with a friendly wave, his head tilted slightly backward to look up at the teens in the trees.

They all, except for a sleeping Jay greeted him. Evie smiled down at him, Carlos was tinkering with something in his lap and Mal was drawing.

"How did you even get up there?" Ben asked.

"We climbed," Mal deadpanned.

"Of course, you did how silly of me." Ben laughed.

He saw Mal smile and grinned, he had fallen for this girl and hit the ground hard and fast, there had been no turning back.

"Can we talk, alone?" He asked her.

With a shrug she jumped down from the branch and Ben would never admit it but he nearly had a heart attack right then and there. When she did things like this, things that may be absolutely normal for her, it may have been normal on the Island, but for Ben and those who were not born on the Island it was definitely not normal. It scared him how she toyed with danger.

Together they walked side by side a bit deeper into the forest, snow crunching under their boot-clad feet. The silence was nice, it was comfortable, a silence that he never had with his former girlfriends, especially Audrey.

When the young princess was not talking about herself or 'princessy' thing she had nearly nothing to say and he had never really known how to talk to her or what to say when they were alone, so the silence that had appeared often was nearly always awkward, uncomfortable and the time they had spent together had often felt forced as if they would have been happier being elsewhere.

But with Mal long periods of silence never bothered him it was nice to simply be by her side without unnecessary chattering.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Mal asked him after a few minutes of walking.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something, something I should have done a long time ago."

"You are not going to propose, are you?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?! No! I just… I wanted… Argh!"

Mal laughed, a pure sound, not one of her still cruel and cold laughs or one of her fake ones she used in the first few days in Auradon. No, this one was real and full of warmth.

"Calm down, I'm only teasing you."

He looked into her green eyes and once again lost himself in them, it happened quite often, he could stare for hours and would never get tired of seeing those eyes but it wasn't just the eyes that he loved about his girlfriend.

"You sneaky Fae," He grinned at her and calmed his nerves again.

"But thank you that helped."

"It was a pleasure. So, what did you want to ask?"

"I wanted to ask you… no! Do you want to go to the New-Years-Party with me?"

She grinned at him.

"Well, how can a girl say no to such a proposal."

"So, is that a yes?"

"Yes, of course, it is a yes. You, flea brain." She slapped him softly on the shoulder and both laughed. Ben took her into his arms and gave a long hug.

And as they stood there still locked into an embrace snow begun to fall softly around them.

Ben stood together with Carlos, Jay and Doug inside the large room where the Aurodan Prep New-Years-Party was being held. His smoking was a dark shade of blue while the other three wore black suits freshly tailored for them, his Christmas present for all three of them.

Ben looked at the two male VK's, they both had changed a lot these last few months. Standing side by side with Jay's arm around his younger brother both looking onto the dance floor and yet their eyes seemed to look farther away as if they were with their thoughts somewhere else. All four had this look quite often, with time he noticed these looks appeared less and less but sometimes it still happened. Ben never asked them he knew when to respect their space, they had shared bits and pieces with them, opening up more and more over time, but he would never intrude.

Both had no dates but Ben and Doug were both waiting for theirs.

Carlos had jokingly suggested that they could dance with each other till their significant other appeared. Jay had laughed at this but neither Ben nor Doug appreciated his humor. Both were a bit nervous.

Doug because he was not very good at these sort of things and Evie always appeared to glow at such events. Public events were her domain. And Ben was nervous because he had something special planned for Mal and him that night.

The party had started roughly twenty minutes ago at eight o'clock in the evening and would go till shortly after midnight so all could celebrate into the new year together. Not all students were there some had gone home, some had come back for this night and would be gone tomorrow and other had stayed for the holidays. So, it was not as full as a party would be if it were held when the school was officially open.

Ben heard Doug give a gasp next to him and looked up. And there they were. Mal and Evie both appeared through the door. But Ben had only eyes for the shorter girl.

Mal wore a beautiful purple dress shorter than the one she wore to his coronation a few months ago and yet the style seemed similar. Well, Evie had designed both of them so of course, they would be similar. She wore light makeup but it only highlighted her natural beauty and did not change who Mal was on the inside, a rebel, a fae, a fighter, a survivor. Oh, how far she had come, they all had.

He walked over to her and bowed before taking her had in his. Both teens smiled at each other again lost in each other's eye.

"You look so beautiful," He breathed to her.

She smiled at him and leaned up so she could whisper in his ear.

"And you look very handsome, my king."

Ben pulled her onto the dance floor and together they danced for hours.

Twenty minutes before midnight the young couple walked out of the stuffed party into the cold night air. When he felt his girlfriend shiver a little her gave her his jacket that he had only slung over his shoulder, inside it had been far too warm to wear it for longer periods of time, even for a king.

She smiled at him and together both walked onto a small balcony and looked onto the snow-covered ground bathed in the moonlight.

Mal leaned against the railing and supported herself with her arms on it while Ben pressed his side to the railing, facing her with his arms crossed and his head tilted a little.

He looked at her peaceful face and felt himself fall more and more with each passing moment. She looked so calm, so centered, so balanced. Only a few months ago had she seemed so troubled. Ben shook his head he did not want to think about the past tonight only about the present and possibly the future, a future with her in his life.

"Do you know that we have a tradition here, that on midnight at the end of one year and the beginning of another to kiss someone?" Ben asked her after a few minutes had passed in that comfortable silence he loved so much.

"Oh really?" She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and smirked a bit at him.

"Yes really." He stepped closer to her and she turned to face him.

He took her into his arms again. His arms around her waist and her arms around his strong shoulders. She lay her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

Ben felt his inner clock turn again and midnight neared with a frightening speed, he had planned this moment for the last few weeks and now it was here. And he was nervous.

Mal looked up at him while he looked down at her and again he felt his mouth form into a small smile.

"Well if it is really a tradition…"

She whispered to him as he leaned down. He could faintly hear, in the distance, the countdown of hundreds of people chanting.

"5!"

"then,"

"4!"

"let's,"

"3!"

"Not,"

"2!"

"Break,"

"1!"

"It,"

And right there under hundreds of fireworks and the cheering of many young people, Ben and Mal kissed each other for the first time. And for Ben, it felt wonderous.

When breath became a much-needed factor both separated but only for a bit, so that their foreheads touched and their breath mingled.

"Wow," Mal breathed.

"Yeah, wow," Ben smiled at her before kissing her again.

When they came next up for air both turned towards the fireworks exploding over their heads. With Ben's arm around her waist and Mal's head against his chest, they watched the celebration of the coming year.

"So how long did you plan for this?" Mal asked and he could hear teasing smirk in her voice.

Ben only groaned, while Mal laughed and it was not long till they laughed together only stopping when Mal pulled his head down to kills him again but not before whispering in his ear.

"Happy new year, my king."

* * *

Thank you all for reading. I got the idea for this story this morning and was so captured by it that I could not resist writing something for the ending of one year and the beginning of another.

Anyway, I hope that you liked it.

I'm working on a longer (darker) Descendants fic but I have an outline, the characters but not a real plot together yet. Which is why I'm writing romantic fluff instead of dark, tragic plot.

If some of you have a few ideas they can post those in the comments.

So, thank you for reading and I hope that you leave constructive review. And I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve.

This is ScouterFight and I'm out ;).


End file.
